Wawrinka tops Nishikori to reach final versus Djokovic

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stan Wawrinka outslugged Japanese sixth seed Kei Nishikori 4-6 7-5 6-4 6-2 in energy-sapping humidity at Flushing Meadows on Friday to set up a U.S. Open final against world number one Novak Djokovic.

The third-seeded Swiss took a while to get untracked as 2014 U.S. Open runner-up Nishikori played a near flawless opening set of the semi-final with just two errors.

The Japanese broke Wawrinka to start the second set, but the Swiss started rolling after breaking back in the fourth game and Nishikori, who went five tough sets to upset second seed Andy Murray in a four-hour quarter-final, began to wither.

Wawrinka, the 2014 Australian Open winner and 2015 French Open champion, broke Nishikori in the last game of the second, third and fourth sets to reach his first U.S. Open final.

"He was playing really good from the beginning, he was dictating," Wawrinka said. "He was putting pressure on me, didn't give me any time. I had to wait. I had to fight.

"And he also started to get tired a little bit. That's when I started to get aggressive."

The Swiss has lost 19 of 23 matches against defending champion Djokovic, who beat French 10th seed Gael Monfils in his semi-final, but Wawrinka has beaten the Serb on his way to both of his grand slam titles.

"To tell myself I'm going to be in the final is something crazy," he said.
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